But when people are as pumped up on themselves as Bush and Rice, when they've staked everything on a specific outcome that seems daily to become more and more unlikely, then the fact that there is no VISIBLE plan has to make one wonder if there is some other plan.

Mr. Blumenthal writes "Bush's relationship with Rice is perhaps the strangest of his many strange relationships."

What are some other of these "strange relationships"? Can anyone name some? How about links?

(Thanks!)

At this point, I would guess that the plan is for Jesus to decend from the clouds. A well-timed Second Coming will hopefully allow George and Condi to evade the consequences of their collective incompetence. If not, well, who could have imagined that their faith would be in vain. It was God that wanted GWB to be President, right? Then it is only rational to assume his continued cooperation and protection.

it's basically pornography for uptight rich assholes who cannot admit that their idea of america is crumbling around them. pornography for puritans though which means there will be no sex. it's the most elaborate role play in history. she gets to dress up like trinity in the matrix when she goes to europe and he gets to ponder just how far he's come from the daddy-challenging goofus of his pre-jesus youth to the ass-whoopingest POTUS since Truman dropped the big one. The fact that he's also the gallant appointer of minority women to powerful posts is balance for his sneaking suspicion that he's the same asshole he always was.

the money shot is coming. and it's not going to be pretty.

As in Waiting for Godot we have nothing else we can do now but vote democrat in November and wait for a plan and let's pray to God that there is a plan out there, somewhere.

Every significant relationship in Commander Codpiece's coddled preppie life is distorted. Start with Daddy Dearest, and "finishing" the old man's war (except the old man had a provocation, and an exit strategy). Then, how 'bout Laura the Lie-brarian, who forced him to sober up, and is still visibly uncomfortable in the jerk's presence (who wouldn't be?) Then, his non-relationship with his daughters (how relieved was Laura that one screwing produced two kids, so that she wouldn't have to go through THAT again (there's a big difference between being a big dick and having one). Now, how about Uncle Dick, the hand up the puppet's flabby ass, and the real operational preznit (who was running things the morning of 9/11? Not Widdle Georgie; he was running as fast as he could to Nebraska, that hotbed of terrorist threat. What a thunderpussy). Karen Huge, Cunnilingus Ricearoni....jeez, the list is both long and revolting. Georgie is a highfaluting failure.

Somehow watching Secretary Rice in action during the proxy American

via Israel beat up of Lebanon this summer led one to doubt she was either

effective or relevant. That doubt has existed around C.Rice for some

years. Her sign-off on the Iraq invasion and subsequent more consequential

"occupation" being reflective of not much reflection on her part.

It would not be a far stretch to believe the Cheney crowd that infects

this Bush2 WH is very satisfied to have light weights such as C.Rice in

these primary WH roles. It surely clears the field for Cheney to run his

"plays" with little competitive or meaningful resistance.

Bush2 often himself appearing to be only of marginal "player" status in

this virtual reality "Cheney WH".

Is Jan 2009 here yet? Damn.

It's interesting that no one, here or anywhere, ever suggests that Bush and Condi have a sexual relationship.

Is it that she seems asexual, or he does, or both?

Or no one wants to suggest an interracial relationship?

Personally I don't think they have any hanky panky together, just because I don't think they're up for it, but I do wonder why no one suggests it. Are people being tactful or self-protective?

I'm getting a little weary of the gender-bias which (increasingly?) announces itself in the very titles of Salon.com's critiques of conservative female politicians. I'm no dope -- clearly, women like Dr. Rice and Katherine Harris "perform" certain kinds of (over-the-top) femininity, and these performances constitute enough of a part of their political personae to deserve commentary. But the Salon staffers might think about ways of un-gendering their own political critiques (or at least being a little more honest about the ways they're employing the language of bias). It's tired, and, besides, isn't using gender/sexuality as a way of subtly dehumanizing and ridiculing women so that we don't have to take what they say and think seriously what the *other* team is supposed to do?

Senior officials will be fired (or worse) for bringing to light the folly of these clowns. What is wrong with these people that they can't morally expose these bozos? Where, my God, is the press? This is all very, very nauseating.

I'm no fan of Condi Rice, especially with her latest soundbite misfire, but I find the tone of this article a bit troubling. Bush is surrounded by MEN who exactly the same thing as Rice, Hughes, and Miers. They appease Bush and get rewarded for their loyalty. Rice has apparently figured out how to prosper in the mire of an incompetent administration, and her solution is to be a good liar. I think Blumenthal would have been far more effective in making his point had he written an article that did not imply women as being more likely to enable--especially since men are just as likely to lie and enable in order to get along and get ahead. All the President's women AND men are spinning their boss just as hard as they are spinning the American people in order to keep their jobs and make political points. It's a team effort, Sidney.

As always seems to be with the Bush administration, they take a topic, like the Peace of Westphalia (P of W), and only discern quaint mythos from the larger story.

The Peace of Westphalia is thought of as the conception of modern diplomacy and international relations (something distant to the Bush administration).

It is also known as the “Peace of Exhaustion” because of all the fighting that preceding it (something to be avoided).

It marked the end of the Holy Roman Empire, the end of a great power which tried to influence the religion and government of other nation states.

It signaled the right of political and religious self determination of nations and their legal equality to each other.

It promoted the principle of non-intervention of one state in the internal affairs of another state.

And finally, a great amount of work on the treaty was done by Cardinal Mazarin of France, who was acting in the stead of the incapable boy king of France, Louis XIV.

Perhaps the P of W is not the best of examples for the P 0f USA.